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EDUCATION MINISTRY PROMISES BETTER ACCESS TO SUPPLY TEACHERS FROM SEPTEMBER AS 2.2 MILLION HOURS ARE LOST EACH YEAR SCHOOLS are to be given better access to supply teachers from September

following complaints from parents. Education Minister Luc Chatel said up to 20% of France's 50,000 supply teachers were being under-used and the system of replacement needed to be

"more reactive and more flexible". Under the new plan, schools will have more control over the recruitment of supply teachers, instead of relying on the local education authority,

the _réctorat_. At the moment, if a secondary school teacher is absent for less than a fortnight, a replacement is often not provided. Chatel has asked each school to appoint a member of

staff to oversee the scheme and sit in on some lessons. They will have access to a list of newly retired teachers and students who are free to provide two or three days' cover "at

a moment's notice". Schools will also be able to "borrow" supply teachers from other areas if needed. According to the ministry, 2.2 million teaching hours are lost each

year in secondary schools through teacher absence - which it says is less than 1% of the total. Parents' union Peep said children were not getting the education they deserved and called

on every school to guarantee a minimum level of cover. About 50 parents in the Seine-Saint-Denis have lodged a legal complaint with the ministry and asked for symbolic damages of €1 for

every day when a teacher has been absent and not replaced. They say some pupils have lost up to a month of lessons since the academic year began in September through teacher absence. The FSU

teachers' union said the new proposals were short-sighted and the ministry needed to rethink its policy of cutting permanent jobs. _Lycée_ students' union FIDL said the ministry

was treating the teacher absence problem like "a game of draughts" instead of proposing real, permanent reform. Teachers in _collèges_ and _lycées_ around France are due to stage a

one-day strike on Friday over job cuts.